So my friend and I both got a case of writer's block at the same exact time. I'm thinking if I just write and stop giving a fuck about the quality for a while then I'll hopefully find that spark that made me fall in love with writing in the first place. It's worth a shot right?

Right. Here's…something.

-.-

Phone Call

The dark haired girl's leg bounced anxiously as the line rang and rang with no signs of picking up. Usually it would go straight to voicemail after about four and a half rings. She was getting extremely annoyed and was a couple seconds away from hanging up and trying again until…

"Hello?"

He answered.

"I know it's extremely late and I haven't called you in a while, but I really need to vent right now. You would not believe the shit day I've had. So, for about a year, Naminé and I had been discussing a game plan to get this dude I like to fall in love with me. It was mostly a joke and we both knew it, but I let it be known that I was going to build up the courage to ask him out. Today was gonna be the day that I did it, but then another friend tells me that he and Naminé are already dating— that she asked him out last night and he said yes. You know I'm not one to believe in rumors, so I went and asked her myself. Her exact words were "no, of course not" and I wanted to believe her, so I did. I mean, she's never lied to me before. A couple other people came to me and told me the sane thing and I ignored it because Naminé doesn't lie."

"Uh—"

"I'm not done. Then, right before I went on break before my afternoon class, I see them holding hands as he walks her to her car. So I waited until she drove off and asked him if they were dating. He fucking tells me, "Oh yeah. We'd been talking for six months now and we both figured why not date since we have so much chemistry." He goes so far as to show me the text messages and she's acting and texting exactly like me and telling him stuff I like and my future goals. I call Naminé up and ask her again if they're dating and she denies it. I tell her what everyone, including him said and she kept on denying it and saying she'd never do me like that. I go on my break fuming because at this point, I already know she's a fucking liar and I wanna beat her ass. I head to the new coffee shop they built near Sunset Terrace and guess who's there hugged up and kissing in the back of the café?"

"I—"

"That was rhetorical. I didn't actually expect an answer, dude. Naturally, I went to go confront them— Sora technically didn't do anything wrong so I left him out of it as much as possible. After hesitating and dancing around the subject, she blurts, "Well it's not my fault he'd rather be with me than a coward who can't admit her feelings." And to make matters worse, he snickered. He might as well have pointed and screamed you're a loser in front of everyone. After that, I kinda froze up and told her I wanted her out of my life. She shrugged and went back to kissing him. Now I'm here at my dorm looking at pictures of them they took today online because she tagged me in them. And, on top of all of that, she had the nerve to tag me in a shirtless picture of him with the caption Haters gonna hate, he's all mine with three fucking heart emojis and a laugh emoji. What kind of shit is that?! I thought she was my friend!"

By the end of her rant, the girl was teary eyed and exhausted. Most of the anger and tension that had built up in her throughout the day had collapsed into a deep despair. Recalling the events out loud had been much more painful than she originally thought it would be, but she had to get it out. Her older brother would need all the details in order to give her the best advice, like he always did.

The line was silent for a long while. She figured he too was at a loss as for what to do about her situation, so she turned off her computer monitor and leaned her forehead into her hand as she propped her elbow up on the desk. "I'm sorry I talked your ear off without asking about you and your day. I'm…I just…I feel fucked," she laughed bitterly. "Naminé was my best friend and she royally fucked me. Now what the hell am I supposed to do?"

A few more seconds of silence passed before she heard her brother clear his throat. "In my opinion, this…Naminé sounds like your typical copycat bitch. She's a leech with no life and no personality of her own. She needed to act like you to get the guy you wanted, meaning she couldn't have possibly done it on her own. Don't be upset, baby, be flattered. She obviously looked up to you in some kind of fucked way. And now that she's out of your life, she has no one to copy— no one to suck the life out of. Everything she built up for herself by using you will come tumbling down, because karma's no joke. All you gotta do is keep doing you and leave her alone. You'll get what's coming to you and so will she. And if Sora can laugh at something like that, he wasn't right for you anyway. Let 'em have each other."

The dark haired woman sighed, letting those words sink in. Her brother had done it again. "Thanks Vanitas. You always know what to say."

He chuckled. "That's what I was trying to tell you earlier: I'm not Vanitas."

If she didn't bolt upright at the speed of sound, it must have been the speed of light. "Do what now?"

"I'm…not who you think I am? My name is Roxas. I think you may have the wrong number."

"Wha—? That's impossible. I know you're number by heart. 224-678-0921. Stop fucking with me."

"Ah, my number ends in 0912. That's probably where you messed up."

The woman ran her hand through her short hair as she looked at her phone screen. Sure enough, she had dialed 0912. Man, she felt like the biggest idiot. That was just another thing she would have to tack on to this awful day. "Great. Well why didn't you just hang up on me?"

There was another chuckle. "I tried to politely tell you that you had the wrong number, but you just prattled on without giving me a word in edge wise. I was about to hang up, but you were just so passionate about what you were saying. Then, halfway through, I felt the pain in your voice and…I wanted to…to help. I'm an empath, so I feel what other people feel even when I can't see them. With you…I kinda get the feeling that there's more to your pain than just these two idiots."

The woman stayed silent, still embarrassed over the fact that she had just dumped all of her dumb college drama onto some random stranger. The day couldn't possibly get any worse.

"What's your name, sweetie?"

She hesitated. "Xion. My name's Xion."

"Xion," he said slowly. It sounded like he was either afraid to mess it up or something familiar had clicked in his head. He never said which one. "What else is eating at you, Xion? Whatever you tell me stays with me, and I think I've already proven myself a phenomenal listener."

She swallowed the lump in her throat and tried to inhale as quietly as she could. "My life is already messed up as it is. A close family member passed recently, I'm up to my neck in debt from school, and I'm losing credits in a class because I don't have the transportation to go all the way across town to attend an introductory course of bullshit. Now this? I'm just exhausted..."

Xion expected the line to go quiet. She expected him to get tongue tied and not know what to say, just like all her other friends. It was a bit of an understatement to say she was shocked when she heard him ask her a question that no one seemed to even care about anymore. "When was the last time you took the time to relax?"

It was a good, rare question, but she already had the answer for it. "I don't have the time."

"Make the time. On your next off day, spend some time making yourself happy. Forget about Naminé and Sora, forget about school and debt, be glad your family member isn't here to suffer on this shitty planet like the rest of us. They're probably kicking back eating golden grapes with Jesus or something."

She couldn't help but laugh, and it spread to him easily. "You're insane."

"In the membrane," he grinned. Not that she could see, but she could just hear it in his voice. Either that or he probably had this really dumb looking smirk on his face. "I'm joking, but not about you relaxing. You're at HBSU, right?"

"Yeah…? How'd you know that?"

"If I'm not mistaken, the Sora you're talking about is Sora Nguyen: the face of the fucking school. That means I'm here too."

He attended the school? What a fucking coincidence. That was so unbelievable that it actually pissed her off a little. Seriously, what was the probability of her dialing the wrong number and getting some guy that went to the exact same school as her? One in ten thousand? Million? Billion? "Okay, so…how am I supposed to relax? I haven't been all over campus, so I don't really know what's fun."

"There's an arcade about a block from campus. I know they're outdated as fuck, but killing pixelated enemies with unidentifiable beams of light for over an hour can really take the edge off."

She rolled her eyes. "Sounds a hell of a lot better than sitting in my dorm studying the same material I have been since the semester started. Why not?"

"Cool. I'll meet you there."

Without thinking, she replied, "Yeah, sure."

"Awesome. I gotta go, but save my number in your phone. I'll do the same."

She automatically agreed, then disconnected the call. It wasn't until she realized that she was actually saving his number under Not Vanitas that it came to her. "Did this guy just get me to go out on a date with him?"

Surprisingly…she wasn't even mad at it.